Realm Of Hope
by AwesomeEyes
Summary: -"I was pulled over, and the Seeker flashed the flashlight in my eyes...and there was no reflection. What was I going to do now?"- Noel believes she is the only human left, but an accident has her finding family, that she thought was long gone and more. /On hold until I can get around to writing more. 2013.08.31/
1. Chapter 1

**2013.01.17 Grammar Correction! **

**Ps. I know about all the fragmented sentences. **

_"They say that souls were always in human being, but that they didn't 'activate' until another soul did something to them."_ I read in the middle of a crowded mall, eating my pepperoni pizza. _"If that is true, then how did we come to exist?"_

_"How indeed?"_ I thought to myself as I fished off my food, and stood up from the bench I was sitting on. I grabbed my bags and started walking toward the closest exit.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" A small voice said and I felt a tug on my pants.

I looked down to see a little girl, about maybe five, there. I knelt down and came eye to eye with her. "Yes?" I said.

The girl smiled and the silver ring around her pupil seemed to dance. "You left your purse over on the bench." She said and pointed with both her eyes and finger to the forgotten item.

I smiled, and looked back at the girl. "Thank you, little one. What's your name?"

I had been around souls long enough to know that my purse wouldn't be touched and to know what to do when a soul helped you with something: Ask for their name.

"Kimberly." She said in a soft voice. She looked down, blushing, and her flaming red hair covered her face.

"That's a nice name." I said. She looked up at me and blushed harder.

"You think so?" she asked, eyes shining and I didn't think it was from the way the light was hitting her eyes.

I stood up and held out my hand as I started walking toward where I left my purse. "I know so."

She smiled and grabbed my hand. "What's your name?" She asked innocently.

"Face Hitting the Moon Beam." I said, "But you can just call me 'Moon Beam'." I smiled down at her again, these souls were too easy to like.

I was lying of course. My real name was Noel. I was twenty-three years old. I lived in a city called Tucson, but I moved around a lot so that the souls didn't recognise me as being human.

It wasn't always like this. I was nineteen when it all started to get...well...weird. The news would report large numbers of people going missing then showing up three days later, all fine but with something wrong with their eyes. My family and I were scared enough to go into hiding. We would only come out at night, which always made me think of a vampire movie I had seen years ago, and look for stuff to eat. We would sometimes break into people's houses to get food. But people start noticing six shadows sneaking around at night. That was when they caught my mom, dad and my older brother's girlfriend. Somehow or another my two older brothers and I had gotten away.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when Kimberly tugged at my hand. I shook my head and my waist length long hair - that was a strange colour of red-ish brown - swayed around me. I looked down at the little girl and smiled at her worried look.

"I was just thinking of my family." I answered her silent question.

"Kimberly?" A voice behind me called, and I turned to see a woman with the same red hair as the girl's walking toward us. "There you are, honey. Where have you been?" The elder knelt down to the little girl's level to see her more clearly.

Kimberly smiled at the woman and let go of my hand to take the other lady's hand. "I was helping Miss Moon Beam here, mommy. She was about to leave her purse on the bench over here, so I told her." Then she leaned in so that she was just whispering, but was loud enough for me to hear. "Isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, mama?"

I smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment. The other woman's eyes darted to me then back at the girl. She smiled and nodded, then stood and held out her hand.

"Thank you for watching her. I'm Sea Flower." She said, and I didn't know if she was from the Flower Plant or the Sea World.

I shook her hand and gave her my fake name.

"Anyway, I had better go." I said and picked up my purse. "It was nice meeting you both." I smiled and continued on my way to the door.

When I was at my car, I glanced in the mirror and saw soul's eyes staring back at me. I sighed when a flood of memories came with just a look in the mirror.

Like I said before, my real name was Noel. I'm about 5'7". I have brown, red-ish hair. My skin was a dark ivory colour, thanks to the sun and the way I tan, and my eyes were a light green colour...under these annoying lens contacts that is.

I put my car in reverse and was soon on my way home from my day of clothes shopping.

I made it home and threw my keys onto the kitchen counter. My apartment was plain. You opened the door and came into the kitchen. if you kept walking straight you walked into the living/dining area, but I turned left and walked into the small hallway that lead to the two bedrooms, the bathroom and the closet where I had all my towels and sheets in. It was plainly decorated. I loved Chinese and Japanese work, so over all the windows was a Chinese type of curtain. All the things that were on the wall were of Japanese origin. All my furniture was made of wood too, and was stained to be a dark brown.

I dumped all my shopping bags on my bed and left my room to go and get some food.

I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find it almost empty.

_"I'll have to go shopping again tomorrow."_ I thought as I grabbed the last bit of hamburger meat to make a patty out of, and some frozen corn out of the freezer and put it all on the stove to cook.

After I had eaten and everything was cleaned, I went and sat down on my leather chair and turned on the TV, but there was nothing on I wanted to watch. I grabbed my magazine and began to read where I left off.

_"We all know that we came here being spiders. We observed how this world worked and then a soul was inserted into a male doctor while he was sleeping; this is how we first came to this planet, and makes the human race, a better race."_

I cursed under my breath and three the magazine at the wall.

Because of these damn spiders, I was the only rebel human left?

I suddenly wished that I had squashed ever spider I had ever seen.


	2. Chapter 2

**2013.01.17 Grammar Correction! **

**Ps. I know about all the fragmented sentences. **

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my alarm clock at 10:00 a.m., and got into my everyday clothes - just a plain white tee-shirt and a pair of jean cut-offs (It was too hot to be in anything else but cut-offs), got into my car and drove to the Superstore that was only a few blocks from where I lived.

Once I had parked the car, I reached into my purse and pulled out my contacts. After placing one in each eye, I got out of my car and walked into the store.

I wasn't getting much. Milk, cereal, eggs, frozen vegetables, tea, coffee, just the stuff I needed, and placed to in my hand basket. When I came into one aisle I passed by my favourite crackers and tried to stop myself from turning to get them.

_"It's not like you're buying them."_ I cursed my inner voice and was just about to grab onto the box when I was suddenly on the floor with an aching side. That was going to bruise.

"I am so sorry." a velvet soft voice said, and I looked up to see a woman with beautiful golden hair and soul eyes staring at me. "Are you alright?" She asked and came around her cart to help me stand up. "I didn't mean to hit you; I was coming around the corner and wasn't paying attention. Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" She said, horrified.

I shook my head, "Did you just hit me with your cart?" I asked, when she nodded I laughed then winced.

"Oh, you're hurt." She turned to look at the man that was at her side, and I noticed that she was small. I hadn't noticed him before. He was of average height about the same height as me, maybe an inch or two taller. Golden tanned, brown hair, but I didn't see his eyes since he was wearing sunglasses. "Jared, can you go and get some help or something."

"No!" I said a bit to load. "Uh, no that's okay. It's nothing. It doesn't even hurt anymore and I don't want to bother anyone."

The girl looked sceptical at first but then smiled after I did. "I'm Wanda." She said and held out her hand.

I smiled again and shook her hand. "I'm Star Glazer." I said, then looked over at the man and held out my hand.

"Jared." was all he said then bent down to pick up the box of cereal that I had had in my basket.

_"How did..."_ I looked around me to see my eggs all cracked, my milk spilled everywhere. The aisle was a mess.

"Clean up on aisle 2." I said more to myself then anyone, but the blonde next to me giggles. I smiled at her, "Sounds kind of cliché, no?" I asked.

She giggled more and nodded. Then she and I bent down to try and pick up what was saveable in the mess. It wasn't long after that that a staff member came and offered to clean up the rest of the mess. We let him do that and continued on our way, talking about the weather - the heat was getting unbearable -, and movies from the past we had watched.

"Do you need any help with that?" I asked, noticing Wanda pushing a rather large looking cart full of food around.

The man, Jared I reminded myself, stiffened and whispered something in a small voice I couldn't hear.

The girl gave him a nod and turned to me. "I actually have help waiting for me. But thank you for your offer." I noticed something off about her voice, but I didn't pay it much mind.

"Alright, well, I haven't eaten yet, so I better go." I smiled at the two of them. "It was nice meeting you, Jared, Wanda."

Wanda returned my smile, but Jared just gave me a nod.

_"He sure is a weird soul."_ I thought to myself as I made it to my car. I decided to keep my contacts in as because, truthfully, I was too lazy to take them out.

That was probably a good thing, because not even ten seconds later, as I was just starting my car, Jared and Wanda walked right in front of my car. Wanda didn't notice me, but Jared turned and gave me a half nod. I just waved back.

I pulled out of my parking spot and decided I was just too lazy to make my own breakfast, and I felt like Wendy's anyway. It wasn't too far from where I was now, actually.

Making my way through the streets was easy enough. It was about noon now and there was little traffic to worry about. I made it to the Wendy's in only fifteen minutes and my stomach was rumbling like crazy.

As I waiting for all the cars to move along so I could get through to the drive through, I started thinking about what life was like before this. I use to have a great job; a survivor guide. I knew how to live in almost any type of wilderness with just few previsions. I could survive in minus forty Celsius weather with just a Frisbee, a tarp, and the clothes on my back. I could live in a plus 70 degrees Celsius desert with a garbage bag, a bottle of water (empty or full) and a shovel. Pretty much anything could be eaten if you knew what you were doing.

A honk behind me woke me from my daydreaming and I had an urge to finger the person, but stopped short and just waved. I moved forward and made my order, went to the window, grabbed my food, then left.

I didn't realise until too late that I was going too fast. It didn't even occur to me. But when I saw red and blue lights flashing behind me, I didn't know what to do.

As my mind was going a hundred miles per hour, my foot wanted to do that to. I made myself stop and think this through. In a period of three seconds I knew that I had to pull over. My old station wagon was almost out of gas and there was no way I was going to out run this Seeker behind me.

I had only one choice. I pulled over and hoped to God that they didn't check my eyes for a reflection.

As I watched the Seeker get out of his car from my rear-view mirror, I tried to take long slow breaths.

_"In...Out...In...Out..."_ I kept telling myself as I he got closer.

Then he was tapping on my window and I rolled it down. "Yes Seeker?" I asked as innocently as I could.

He smiled at me, and his eyes danced, "You were going about thirty kilometres over the speed limit, ma'am." He said. "I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car."

I stared at him. _"Last chance!"_ I thought, but I knew I couldn't win. I would have to go with this man, get something put into my neck and live like a robot for the rest of my life as I slowly disappeared in my own head. "One moment." I said to him as I unbuckled myself and swung my door open.

He looked at me and I tried to smile back. "It's okay." He said, "Just standard procedure."

I bet I wasn't in his standard procedure. Before I knew it he was reaching for his belt and the flashlight that was hook on him.

My insides were screaming to tackle this guy, grab his gun and shot the other one. My head was screaming that that was the stupidest thing to do, seeing as we were in the middle of a national highway.

I listened to my head and I knew that it was over before he even had the light over my eyes.

He gasped and dropped the flashlight and that was the end of following my head. I shoved him with all my might and ran for my car, but I didn't make it. He had my pinned to the pavement and was spraying something in my face. I only saw the words 'Asleep'.

_"I guess I am in the standard procedure..."_ was the last thing I remember thinking before all went black.


	3. Chapter 3

I cracked my eyes open to see that I was in the backseat of a car. My body was numb and I assumed that it was from the stuff that was sprayed in my face. It was about five in the evening by the looks of it outside. There were two Seekers with me, one was driving and the other was sitting in the backseat with me.

"Oh, your awake,'' said the Soul beside me. I turned to look at him. He had a nice face, I guess. His hair was blonde and I wondered what his eyes were like before he was taken over. He smiled at me and I just stared at him. "It's okay. You're just lucky that we had Asleep with us or we would have had to take out our guns."

"Would you stop talking to it?" The other soul that was driving, said. All I saw was the back of his head because I was sitting behind the driver's seat, but his hair was grey.

The blonde looked at him. "Come on Fire Song." He said and then looked back at me. "It's not like she's going to be a rebel for much longer."

"Still, just leave the poor thing alone. She's gone through one heck of a day." Said Fire Song, and I felt like if he was a "rebel" human like me, I would have liked him.

The blonde ignored him and turned back to me. "So what's your name?" I didn't answer. "Oh, she's a stubborn on. No matter, we'll get that information out of you soon enough." He chuckled at my grimace.

"Ken, leave her alone." The grey haired, Fire Song, said and looked at me in the rear-view mirror. "It's okay, sweetie. It doesn't hurt one bit."

It wasn't until about fifteen minutes later that I noticed we were traveling at a slow pace and that we were in the desert still. We seemed to be the only ones on the road.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, and Ken turned and smiled, but it wasn't a soft smile.

"So it does talk." He said and I ignored him and met Fire Song's eyes through the rear-view mirror.

"Phoenix." He said and turned his attention back to the road, where I noticed a sign go by that said 100 miles to said destination. We had only traveled 13 miles?

"Why are we going so slowly?" I asked again, trying to ignore the blonde soul, but he answered.

"We aren't. We are right at the speed limit." Ken said, "Road's under construction."

I nodded more to myself then him. I remember hearing something about that. As the evening went on and we didn't increase our speed, I began to think of a way to get out. I noticed that my hands were bound in front of me. I could move my legs and everything else was starting to get some feeling back into it. I could wait until we got to Phoenix and then try to break free. Or I could do something else.

As I thought more about it, I realised that if I waited, there were going to be more Seekers there, and I wouldn't be able to get away. I knew what I had to do.

Before Ken knew what was happening, I brought my legs up and kicked his face with my runners, making his head smash into the window behind him and knocking him out. In a swift movement I grabbed the Asleep that was pinned to his belt and sprayed it in Fire Song's face. He was out like a light and I realised that the car also had no one driving it. I reached up and tried to steer but my hands were still tied together and I couldn't reach it properly. We were heading toward the desert and from the way the car was set up and the rock we was about to run into, this car was going to flip.

I did the next thing that came into my mind; I sat back as fast as I could, grabbed the seatbelt and buckled myself in. It took a few tries but I got it. The car started to bump violently up and down as we picked up speed and were completely off the road now. I looked up and the rock was closer than I expected. I crunch down into a small ball as the car hits the boulder head-on. My body lurched forward and I felt a sharp pain in my side where my seatbelt was: broken ribs. But something was wrong. I was suddenly lifted into the air and the tail end of the car was swung over the top or the rock. We were rolling, the car hitting the ground from the rear of the car to the tail of the car. And again, and again, and again before it came to a stop, or I think it did. I couldn't really tell with my shoulder stinging like I had hugged a hornets nest, my side feeling like it was being crushed and my head feeling like a bowling ball was rolling in it. I hurt everywhere. Pain was everywhere. I felt like I was falling. Falling but on the sturdy ground at the same time. It was confusing really.

Everything was so confusing. And then just as quickly as it had begun the pain was suddenly gone. There. Gone. Like it vanished in thin air. Like I was not in pain anymore. But I knew I was. But I couldn't quite feel it. My head swam with fear. Death. Was death numb? Was it just my body? Was it my imagination? I couldn't imagine this feeling of nothing. It was like air touching me. Like nothing. It was scary. Terrifying, but also a comfort. It seemed to welcome me with wide open arms like I belonged with it. I didn't resist. I floated to it...expecting it. Expecting the arms to curl around me and consume. But death was slow. It took its time and savoured every bit of the satisfaction that it won. It was beating me and I could not do anything about it. I could mentally hear it's laugh as it came closer. I smiled not willing to laugh. I, after all this time of fighting to stay alive, to win, was finally dying. What a waste. If I would have known this would be the way it went I would have let death come much sooner. But now I didn't have a choice. It was all up to the blood spilling out of my head. It was up to the pain. It was up to my body. Not me really. And my body was choosing death. I wished it would be over. I didn't like to think about how I could have done things different, regret thing. I just wanted to leave. Get it over with.

And then I took a breath. Then I moved my toes. Then I realized that _I_ was moving my own body. That it was taking my command. It was strange to take control. But death was still there waiting for my body to take one more step and I would be dead. I looked up at it and stuck my tongue out at it. It was a gesture of 'in-your-face'. Like not this time or I win again. Now I could laugh. But then death let me go. It let me fall back to earth, where the pain was, the jabbing, and killing -but not at the same time-, torturous pain. Pain was much like death. But it was greedier. It was like a childish death. It played with you and made fun. It had you in its domain and kept you in its maze until you found your way out. I took another deep breath and the pain doubled in my side. My rib was more broken then I thought.

**Thank you to my sister for helping with this chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**2012.01.17 Grammar Correction!**

**Eyes**

The car must have landed on its wheels because I was sitting. I could move, I opened my eyes and turned my head and was glad I could. My eyes landed on Ken. He didn't look that good. I unbuckled myself and reached over to see if he was alive or not. I felt for a pulse and there was none. I looked at him and felt sorry. He was okay, I guess. He reminded me of one of my brothers when he teased me. I didn't think about that for too long as I reached for his belt and grabbed the flashlight out of it. It was dark outside, and I wondered how long I had been out. It only seemed like seconds, but it must have been longer.

I flicked the light on and looked to see what else was on Ken's belt. I grabbed the Asleep, never know when you might need it. I saw something else on his belt and I reached for it without thinking and gasped as a huge pain shot through my arm. Maybe I had broken my shoulder too. I reached for the object again and grabbed hold of the gun that was strapped to him.

_"Never know when you might need it."_ I said to myself.

I flashed the flashlight around some more to see if there was a way I could get out from the back seat but the damage was pretty bad, so I shifted the light to the front of the car. The passenger side of the car was smashed and I wasn't going to try and squeeze out of that eight inch crack that used to be the window. I looked at the driver's side and remembered the older soul that was there. I reached around the head rest of the chair and felt for his pulse. None. But I would be able to get out from his side. I carefully and slowly and painfully moved from my seat to the window. I remembered to grab Fire Song's gun too and the Asleep but I noticed that there was something else on his belt. I grabbed it and threw it out the window so I could check it later, along with the two guns after making sure the safety was on.

It hurt. My shoulder was probably ripped to shreds, and as I tried to pull myself through the hole that was barely fourteen inches wide, the sting started to enhance in such a great deal that I had to stop and try and calm myself. After finally getting out of the car, I sat on the ground to get my breath back. After that, I looked back at the car and it was totally demolished.

_"How the hell did I survive that!?"_ I thought to myself.

Where the trunk had been, there wasn't one now. I moved the light in my hand to look at the way direction we had come from and realised that the trunk had broken off the car, and there was garbage everywhere. I got up and went over the look at it when I saw that it wasn't garbage at all but ammo for the guns I had stuff thrown out the window. Another had blankets, and yet another was a survival box with food, water and ammunition. I looked around some more and saw a backpack with a first aid symbol on it. I slowly walked over to it. I had a feeling that if I pushed myself too hard after a crash like that, then the effort would have been for nothing. When I reached the bag, I opened it and just saw canisters.

I picked one up and saw that it read, Smooth. The next said Heal, No Pain, and Clean, there were more, but I didn't read them. I grabbed the No Pain and opened the lid. It was like eating paper. But the moment after I had felt it dissolve on my tongue the pain in my side and shoulder and head were gone. I stared in amazement at the small container. Next, I grabbed the Clean. I guess that that was the one you put on first; it was a spray bottle so I moved it to my head and sprayed it there. There was a sick sizzling sound and then a prickling feeling but it didn't hurt. I sprayed it on my shoulder next and the same thing happened. I set down the Clean then grabbed the Heal. It was a spray too and I did the same thing to my head and my shoulder, but it felt tickled a little. I didn't know what Smooth was, but I felt...perfect. I felt like I could run forever and not even feel anything.

I put all the stuff back into the bag and there was enough room in the bag that I could probably carry a few rounds of ammo with me. I stuffed some in, and then went to get a blanket when I noticed another backpack with the box. I felled it full in water and food and believe it or not, I found a shovel as well. I went and grabbed the guns off the desert floor and stuffed the barrel of the gun in the back of my cut-offs, making it so that all I would have to do if there was danger, was reach behind me and grab the handles. I put the Asleep in the backpack with the most room, but kept on in my front pocket where it wouldn't fall out.

I then remembered the small object on Fire Song's belt and looked around for it when I saw it on the ground not far from where the guns had been. I bent down to pick it up, and had an uncomfortable feeling in my side, and I had to remind myself that my ribs were probably still broken. When I brought the small item into the light, I was surprised to see it was a cell phone. I decided that it was best that I not take it just in case it was traceable. I tossed it to the ground and turned to walk away from the car wreck when I realised that I didn't know what I was doing.

I couldn't go back. No bought the Seekers were at my apartment right now, looking through my stuff and seeing if I had any ties to another "human" out there. No, I couldn't go back. But what could I do. As I thought about it I began to remember that there was a town not 10 miles away from here...but they were probably made aware of the Seekers bringing a rebel through this way. I would have to face the wilderness of the desert until I could get my plan together.

But, I couldn't just leave these souls here like this. They probably had family. I instantly bashed that thought out of my head when I felt guilt wash through me. Somehow I don't think, "All is fair in love and war" would cover this one. I couldn't leave them. So without a second thought, I picked up the cell phone at my feet and dialled 9-1-1.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" A male voice came to me.

"Hi," I said, wanting to hang up, "There has been an accident on the high way between Tucson and Phoenix. I think they are dead. The car was in a roll over."

There was a gasp, "Can you tell me where exactly, ma'am?" He asked.

"No." I said, and then I hung up. There. At least I had, at most, a half an hour to get away.

So without looking back, I ran into the sandy waste land. Not caring about the pain in my side, or how heavy the two bags on my back were.

I didn't know how long I just ran, but when the pain in my shoulder and side started to come back, I took off my bag and grabbed the No Pain. After it had done its job, I started running again. It was nice, running like there wasn't any tomorrow. I stopped every now and then to catch my breath. I didn't feel the pain of my lungs screaming for air, but I knew it was there.

When the morning sun started to come up; I was amazed to see the beauty of the sun rise. The colours were amazing and seemed to dance on the clouds that were in the sky. There was the red that demanded my attention and an orange that was barely noticeable but there all the same. The yellow was calming but bold and the pink was soft. I couldn't believe that I had never gotten up to watch this.

I knew that it was going to get hot soon, so I ran for another three hours before the heat got so unbearable that I sat in the shade of a mountain/cliff.

I noticed it too late. There was nothing then I was staring down the barrel of a gun. Before I could think of what I was doing. I had both my guns out and pointed at the person holding the gun on me.

I focused on the person. It was a girl about maybe 23 or so. She had brown hair that was to her mid back and green eyes. I gasp in shock.

"You're human!" I said and lowered my guns, but raised them when two other people stepped from around the corner of the mountain. I had a gun pointed at the two men that were approaching, and another one at the girl with the gun.

The girl smiled, but it wasn't welcoming. "And your point is?" She said in a dead voice.

I looked at her and then at the men that were approaching. One was old; I was guessing early sixties, with white hair and a white beard. He was about 5'6" and was looking at me with curious eyes that were the colour blue. He wore a pair of jeans, and I almost pass out just imagining how hot he must be in those, and a yellow t-shirt. He smiled at me when he saw that I was looking at him. I just stared at him then moved my eyes to the other male.

I gasped, "Jared!?" I asked and then noticed that his eyes were sienna-colour eyes. "You're a human!?" I asked.

He looked at me then there was a shocked look on his face. "You're the soul that Wanda hit with her cart." He said not taking his eyes off me.

I laughed, I was going crazy! I just found three humans. "I'm not a soul." I said, "I'm wearing contacts." I said then put one of my guns back in place behind my back and reached my hand up to pick out one of my contacts. "See, I'm human just like you."

The older man stepped forward. "Are you okay? You're covered in blood." He said staring at my left shoulder.

"I am?" I asked then looked at myself. My white t-shirt wasn't white anymore, but red. I lifted put my other gun away then reached up and placed my right hand on my left shoulder. It was wet. "Oh, I'm bleeding." I said.

_"I sound like an insane person."_ I said to myself then swung my bag of my shoulder to the ground.

"I can't feel the pain because I took some No Pain." I answered there silent question, not expecting them to know what No Pain was.

The girl spook again, "What happened to you?" She asked, and I noticed her gun was also in tucked in her pants.

I frowned, "I was in a car accident last night." I said. "Or, I think it was last night, I don't really know, I was knocked out." I said, and then pulled out Clean and Heal out of my bag. "I guess I didn't get all my back when I tried healing myself." I said, more to myself then the three here.

"Here." The girl said, holding out her hand. "Let me do that for you." She said, but turned her head at the other two. "Why don't you go and get something for her to put on instead of these bloody clothes, Jared, Uncle Jeb?"

Jeb, the older man, shrugged before turning around and walking away, but Jared didn't move. "Mel." He said.

She smiled at him. "I have to take her shirt off so I can heal it properly." She said, and I blushed. It was weird. Souls would never be that direct.

Jared didn't do anything but turn and walk away the same way Jeb did. "Shot her if you need too." He casually threw over his shoulder and I sent a glare at him and so did Mel.

"Ignore him." She said, "I'm Melanie, but you can call me Mel." She smiled at me. "Can you take off your shirt?"

I nodded and tried to move my left arm but something happened. I screamed in pain before I could stop myself and feel against Melanie, who was sitting behind me.

I barely registered when Jared and Jeb come back running or when I was lifted into someone's arm. I barely noticed Melanie saying that everything was going to be okay, and saying something about "Doc".

I do remember Jeb look at my shoulder and gasp. Was it that bad? I remember Melanie cutting away my shirt and throwing it into the back of the jeep that I was suddenly in. I was relieved when the No Pain that Mel had put on my tongue started working. I felt better in seconds, but Mel said it was best if I just rested. I didn't argue. I guess I over did it today. Running across a desert, right after getting into a car crash that might have broken my ribs and shoulder blade along with smash my head. Mel then started healing my mangled skin and grabbed an old shirt from under the seat, and helped me put it on. Does that mean that the two men saw me without a shirt? I blushed and Mel laughed, obviously guessing what was bugging me.

I don't really know how long it took me to realise it, but we were heading deeper into the desert, in the middle of the day. I looked over at Melanie to see her staring at me.

"Sorry," She said, "It's just that you look familiar." She said, "But I know I don't know you. It's annoying." She said before looking ahead again. "We're almost there. The others will be excited to see you."

I almost chocked on my own saliva. "Others!? There's more?" I asked excitement and nervousness in my voice.

She laughed again, "Yup, there are thirty-seven of us in Jeb's "tribe"." She replied, doing quotation marks with her fingers. "Eleven with Gail, Max has eighteen, Russell has seven, and Nate has twenty-two."

I stared at her in amazement, thinking about what she just said, before I was interrupted by the jeep coming to a halt and Jared picked me up as if I weighed nothing. We started walking toward the rocks when suddenly I couldn't see anymore. I started squirming in Jared's arm, but stopped when I felt a hand on mine.

"It's okay." Jeb said. Or I think it was Jeb. It wasn't Jared or Mel's voice. "We just need to be cautious. Nothing personal."

"Melanie?" I called out.

"Yes?"

"Would you be able to grab my stuff?" I asked her. I heard her say yes and we all stopped. Or Jared stopped and I had to because he was carrying me, and waited for her.

We started moving again, and I guessed that Mel had come back. "Would someone be able to pull my guns out of the back off my pants? It's rather uncomfortable." Someone chuckled, Jeb, and the guns were gone. "Am I allowed to keep them?"

"Can't do that, hon." Jeb said, and I frowned, but understood. It wouldn't be right for a new comer to have a gun.

We were all quiet until a unknown voice came out of now where. "There back! Hey Mel, guess what? You never will. Sharon said that I could go with you guys on your next raid. Cool, right? Hey Uncle Jeb, hey Jared! How was the - Whoa, who is that?"

"Jamie, calm down." Mel's voice said, and suddenly I could see. I was in a...well; I don't really know what I was in. There were rocks, so maybe a cave of sorts. The cave was huge and was lit by mirrors. I stared up in amazement. It was...beautiful to say the least. The light was shining down and reflected off of a mirror, which reflected off on other mirror and then another.

Jared cleared his throat and I looked to see that Jared was still holding me. I blushed. "Sorry." I said, "I can walk, you can put me down." He did so then went and put his arm around Mel, who smiled at him.

"Hi!" the voice that was talking before, said. I looked to my left to see a boy, maybe seventeen, with the same green eyes as Mel and her hair colour, but cut short. "I'm Jamie, Mel's brother." He held out his hand.

I smiled at him. He was a nice looking kid, "I'm…Noel. Wow, I haven't said that name in such a long time." I shook his hand.

"Oh wait tell everyone else finds out!" Jamie said with excitement. "Wanda and Ian are coming this way. Hey Jared, how come you had to leave right away, anyway? I thought you went on a raid three days ago with Wanda? Oh, did you see Noel and go and see how she was? I bet that was it!" Jamie rattled on and I found myself smiling at him.

I was suddenly reminded about my shoulder when a ping of pain shot through it. I gasped and feel to the floor, holding it.

"Noel, are you okay?" Mel said and she was kneeling down beside me.

I nodded, "Could you give me a No Pain please?" I asked, she nodded and quickly placed the paper thin item on my mouth. The pain vanished. "Thank you, Mel." I said and smiled at her.

"Wanda! Ian!" Jaime's voice rang out. "You'll never believe what Jared and Mel brought back."

Someone giggled, and I remembered that that was what Wanda's laugh sounded like. I turned and looked at her and gasped.

"Ian!?" I asked. The man beside Wanda was huge. Built. His dark hair was a looked like he hadn't cut it in a few mouths. He had darker skin. Tall. Shining blue eyes. "Ian, is that really you?"

The man looked at me and froze in shock. "N-Noel?"

I didn't care that my head was injured. I didn't care that my shoulder blade was probably broken. I didn't care that my ribs _were_ broken. I lunched myself at him and hugged him, and started crying.

"Oh, Noel. You're alive. You're alive." Ian whispered in my hair.

A cough was heard and Ian let go of me. He stared at me for a few seconds more then turned to the blonde that was at his side. "Wanda," He said his voice soft and full of love. "This is my sister, Noel."


	5. Chapter 5

**2012.01.17 Grammar Correction!**

**Eyes**

It was almost funny the look on the people's faces when Ian said that. But I soon forgot that when the pain in my shoulder came back and I gasped.

"The No Pain isn't working." I said before anyone could react. "Can someone please take me to this Doc person?" I asked with tears in my eyes.

I was in Ian's arms in less than two seconds, and he was calling for Wanda and Mel to follow him. "What happened to her?" He asked.

"Car accident." Mel said, while keeping up. "She had a lot of blood on her face when we found her, and her white shirt was almost red from her shoulder wound. When I was changing her shirt, I saw a bad bruise on her side. I think that she might have broken some ribs. I don't know why the No Pain didn't work. I used Heal and Clean on it. I don't know why she's still feeling the pain."

"Maybe there's something more to the wound then we can see." Wanda said, trying to calm Ian, no doubt. "Doc will help her."

By this time, I couldn't see where I was going. I knew that the tunnel was a black whole, but I didn't think that that was the only think that was keeping it dark as I slipped in and out of conciseness. I saw when we came into the light of a different cave. Then I remember being put on a soft-ish bed looking thing, and I had a side thought of when my family and I went camping and had to use foam mattresses. I remember when someone shined something in my eyes and gasped. Did I still have my contacts in? Then I remember saying Ian's name and someone grabbed my hand. Then, all went black.

There was nothing, and for a second I believed that I had dreamt it all. The Seekers. The crash. The run. Mel. Jared. Jeb. Jamie. Wanda...Ian.

A pain. A pain of despair. No, _no!_ Not Ian. Ian was real. I remember. He had giving me a bone crushing hug.

Bone Crushing? I searched my body with my mind, seeing if I could feel pain. None. The pain in my shoulder was gone.

I slowly became aware of someone calling my name and a groan-like sound came from somewhere. Only later did I realise it was me.

"Noel?" A voice. I grabbed hold of it and pulled myself out of the rest of the darkness. "Noel, honey?"

My eyes slowly opened to be greeted with the sight of my brother Ian. He smiled down at me and gave me another hug. "How you feeling, kiddo?" He asked me as he pulled away.

I looked at him and frowned, "Hungry," I said. "But I'm it's not really a feeling. My stomach just feels..." I trailed off trying to find the right word for it.

"Hollow?" Ian offered.

I snapped my fingers. "Yup." I smiled up at him, and then tried to move myself into a sitting position. "What happened?" I asked after I was sitting.

Ian sighed and his eyebrows creased together. "Well, after Doc put you out with some Asleep - Mel saw if in your pocket - he gave you some No Pain then cut open your wound to see that you had glass shards in your shoulder." Ian said while rubber his forehead. "We figured that you were probably out for a little over 36 hours before you woke up from the crash." His eyes meet mine questioningly after I groaned again.

I shook my head, "I only thought I was out for a couple of minutes."

The male nodded and we sat in silence before a thought hit me.

"Kyle! Where is Kyle? Did he get caught? Is he here? Is Jodi-" I was cut off when Ian laughed.

"Kyle is fine." He said smiling and I found that I missed the way his eyes shined. "Jodi is here too, but she has a soul in her. We call her Sunny. She's still looking for Jodi though."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Looking for Jodi?"

Ian was about to answer when someone from the side of us cleared their throat. As my eyes darted toward the sound I noticed that we were in another cave of sorts but this one had cracks in the wall so that the light could come in. There was an opening in the cave that went into a tunnel and in the "door way" was the blond from earlier. She smiled at Ian and I then walked in when Ian motioned for her to do so. The rays of light hit her face and made her eyes shine...soul's eyes!

I was in a crouching position in half a second and the blond stopped moving. It was only when Ian started laughing did I take my eyes off her to look at him.

"Noel," my oldest brother said with a smile in his voice. "This is my girlfriend, Wanda."

Silence.

I stared at him in shook then looked back at the girl before me. Wanda. Oh! Wanda! The girl that almost killed me with her cart, Wanda. The one that helped me with picking up with was left of my broken egg, Wanda. It was kind of ironic though. I had met this beautiful girl not three days ago, then I finds out she's my brothers girlfriend. I laughed and I'm sure Ian and Wanda thought I had lost my mind...I probably was losing it.

"I'm sorry." I said after I had calmed down from laughing. "Spending so much time thinking that I had lost everyone, then finding them after getting in an accident, running across the desert, getting a run pointed at my head, finding family, almost dying, kind of takes its toll on a person." I said then laughed again.

"Still in the habit of saying run-on sentences, I see." said Ian with a chuckle. He held out his hand and Wanda walked forward and grabbed it, then sat down with at his side...which was at my side.

"So, I'm guessing your name isn't Star Glazer." She said and her voice was how I remembered it. "Ian was just telling me about you when you woke up."

"I asked her to go and stand by the door because I thought you'd freak out if you woke up and saw her standing here." Ian said with a smile. I missed that smile.

I nodded in thanks and sat back down on the cot. "So tell me about this whole 'Looking for Jodi." I said.

"Actually, if you don't mind," Said Wanda, "I would like to tell you."

I just nodded.

"You see, when I first came here, I was placed in Mel's body. She was very stubborn and she wouldn't...disappear. She stayed in my head never really talking to me that much at first and held her memories locked away from me. I would only see them when we were sleeping and she would slip up. I dreamt of Jared and Jamie mostly. Memories of them with her, talking, playing, and other things like that, but mostly running. Through these dreams I grew to love those two. Mostly because Mel loved them and what she felt, I felt. It took a while but when she began to trust me and believe that I wouldn't take the Seekers to her precious people, she showed me her memories. One really stuck out though. It was of Jeb." She wasn't looking at me or Ian, but staring at the wall. She was playing with Ian's fingers with her own small ones. "He was telling her father about her mother going to go see someone, and that she was going to come back with Seekers." She went on to tell me about all that had happened. When she found the humans, how Mel disappeared, and then came back...everything. I almost growled when she told me about Kyle trying to kill her. I cried when she wanted to die along with Walter and Wes. I was hopeful when Wanda told me about when she took the soul out of Jodi's body. It was a story that lasted well over two hours, but I got my answer to the request I made.

They didn't know if Jodi was still inside Sunny, but Sunny was doing everything to try and get Jodi to come back. I smiled at Wanda.

"Thank you for telling me this." I said, and then pulled her into a hug. "It must be hard for you to do that. Extract the souls, I mean." I let go only to see tears in her eyes.

"Thank you for understanding." She whispered and looked down.

"Noel?" I breathless, hushed voice said from the door way and I knew it instantly.

I focused my eyes on the person and jumped up and ran into Kyle's arms. "Kyle!" I sobbed, "Oh, Kyle!" I couldn't stop saying his name.

He pulled me into a bone crushing hug and rested his head on the top of mine. "Noel. My baby sister. You're alive." Kyle was saying and then he let go of me and held me at arm's length to get a better look at me.

He was the same. He was still as big as I remember him being. His eyes still the same sapphire blue, but they were wet because he was now crying. His hair the same. Same face, though it looked like his nose had been broken and not set right, and there was a few new scars. But he was still Kyle. My big brother Kyle.

"Your hair is longer." He said, making his voice deeper, trying to hide the fact that he had just cried.

"And you've gotten uglier." I said with a laugh, whipping the tears off my face. "What happened to your nose?" I asked pointing at it.

Kyle's eyes moved to Ian then back at me then to Ian again. "Nothing." He said then hugged me again.

I scoffed, "Like hell!" I said in an angry voice then pulled out of his arms. "'Nothing' my ass!" I turned my back Kyle and glared at Ian. "Did you do that?" I seethed, slowly walking toward him.

Ian started backing up, "Now Noel, you don't understand." He said, "I was really mad at him for getting in the way."

I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest, "So? I'm mad at you." I glared at him more. "Come here, so I can break your nose."

"Actually," Kyle said from behind me. "I kinda deserved it."

I must still have been recovering from the drugs they gave me. I'm sure I didn't just hear that. Slowly, I turned around and stared wide eyed at Kyle. "Ian, please tell me that you have a recorder or something." I threw over my shoulder at my other brother.

Ian chuckled behind me, "I said the same thing when he said that to Wanda."

If possible, my eyes grew wider and I turned to look at Ian. "He's done it more than once?" I was shocked. Why had I been mad again?

"Hey!" Kyle sounded behind me, "Stop talking about me like I'm an alien or something. I'm perfectly capable of saying stuff like 'Sorry' or 'I was wrong'."

I turned to Kyle with a smirk on my face, "Sure wasn't in your vocabulary when you broke my favourite glass doll." I said.

"And it wasn't there when you told Brad that Noel liked him and 'ruined' her life." chuckled Ian behind me.

I started, "And is sure as hell wasn't there when -"

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Kyle interrupted, "It might not have always been in my vocab, but when it really matters, I'll say it."

I snorted and Ian sighed.

Sighing Kyle turned to Wanda, "Help me." he asked with a sad face.

Wanda giggled, "Ian, stop bugging your brother." She kissed his check lightly then turned to me. "I'm sure you're hungry, come with me and I'll get you something to eat."

I smiled and all four of us left the 'hospital' cave. The tunnel was dark but Ian, Wanda, and Kyle seemed to know where they were going. That was good, because all the tunnels started to look the same...not that I could see any of it.

It was nice that I was with my brothers again. The way we had gotten separated wasn't the best of ways. We were on a mission. My brothers were going to hold up a store. It was weird really, and kind of stupid. They didn't want me with them because they wanted me safe. They said that if they didn't come back in two hours to leave without them. They handed me a pair of keys and told me about getting as far away from them as possible.

I waited three hours and they didn't come back. I was heartbroken. But I did as I was told and took off thinking the worst...I was never going to see my brothers again.

"Noel?" Ian's voice came from my left. "We're going to go into the eating room. You're going to get stared at and maybe a few people will start asking you questions about yourself, don't worry. If you get uncomfortable just nudge Kyle or me and we'll shut them up."

I smiled, though he couldn't see. "Thanks Ian." I said starting to get a little nervous. Ian made it sound like a lamb being thrown into the cage full of lions. My stomach exploded into a million butterflies when I started to hear some voices. Lots of voices. Then I started to see light when we rounded a corner.

Silence.

That's what greeted me. Dead, amazingly so, silence. It was almost funny.

Kyle leaned into me and whispered, "Ribbit."

I smiled nervously at him then lifted my hand and gave a weak wave.

"Noel! Noel!" said a voice and I turned to it to see a boy waving me over to him. What was his name? Jordan? No, Jamie!

I smiled at him and walked toward him to sit on the bench beside him. There were others with him. Jared and Mel, I recognized right away, but there were two others at the table that I didn't know. One was a man with a dark blond hair and these amazing blue eyes. He smiled at me when he saw that I was looking at him. The other at his side, a woman, had this fiery red hair and brown eyes that trapped you in them.

"Noel," Jamie said with a smile. "This is Doc." He pointed at the man, "And this is his wife, Sharron." He pointed at the red-head.

The man smiled at me and I returned it, but Sharron didn't do anything but nod at me. She kind of reminded me of Jared when I first met him.

"How's your shoulder?" Doc asked, pointedly looking at my left shoulder.

I stared at him, then stuttered, "Uh, f-fine, I guess."

He smiled, "You sure had a lot of glass in your shoulder. I'm surprised you made it this far because the pieces started breaking up and digging into your skin and -"

"Doc," Jamie said looking at his food then the doctor again. "Some of us are eating."

"Oh, sorry Jamie." said Doc.

"Here you go," Kyle's voice said and a plate of food was placed in front of me. A Kyle's size plate of food. "Thought you'd be hungry." He said and sat down on my left, scooting Jamie over.

"Thanks Kyle." I said as Ian and Wanda sat down on my right. We ate in silence for a while and small talk started up again around the eating room.

"So," Mel said looking at me. "What did you do before this all happened?"

I was confused, "Like, before the souls came?" I asked and when she nodded I went on. "I was a survival guide."

"Really?" Wanda asked me trying to look around Ian's huge body.

Smiling at her I nodded. "Yup, it was lots of fun."

"Can you survive in minus 35 Celsius?" Jared asked, randomly.

"Sure as a bird flies." I said.

"What about saving someone's life from a bullet wound?" asked the read head, Sharron.

I paused for a moment then slowly nodded, "If I had a knife and some matches or a lighter, but I could do without it, yeah, sure I could do it."

"Why would you need that?" Jamie asked.

I shoveled some food in my mouth before answering. "The knife for getting the bullet, but I won't go into details about that. The source of heat would make it easy to start a fire or something to heat up the knife to burn the skin in place so that it wouldn't bleed anymore." I nodded again, pleased with my own idea.

The next half an hour was filled with people asking me questions. Not just people from my table, but from the ones behind me and in front of me. I answered most of them to the best of my ability but some of them were a little harder to.

"Oh, can you teach me how to do that? Please, Noel, please?" Jamie asked me after I had answered someone questions about self-defence.

I smiled at him. "Sure, if it's alright with your sister." I nodded over to Mel.

Before Jamie could start asking Mel if it was alright, someone stormed through the door and her eyes landed on my right away. With a warning she launched herself across the table and had slapped me across the face. I was in shock.

_"Oh, no she did not!"_ I thought and with a shove I had pushed her away and stood in a defensive stance.

"What the hell, Lacey?" Mel yelled and stood up.

Lacey snarled at her. Her eyes shot back at me. She was pretty, I guess. I couldn't really tell with her face twisted like that. She had short black hair that reached just below her ears and her eyes were a dark brown colour, almost black. "How dare you!" She screeched at me before running at me.

She was on my in a second and had reached out to punch me when I grabbed her fist right out of the air and twisted it behind her back and held it there. She twisted herself out and made a round kick at me, which caught me in the side. I ignored the pain that shot through my ribs and grabbed her leg and twisted it around until she was on the ground and I was sitting on top of her with her arm behind her back.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jeb's voice came from the door way the same time that Lacey yelled at me to get off of her. I didn't.

"Lacey just attacked her." Aaron said coming around the table to grab hold of the dark haired girl beneath me along with Jared.

As soon as Lacey was being held by the two bigger men, I backed up and grabbed my side and started breathing heavy.

Doc was at my side in a moment. "Are you alright, Noel?" He asked with concern.

"I'm fine." I managed to breathe out. "She just kicked my ribs."

Doc's face grew angry, "You mean your broken ribs?"

Ian's face came into view. He was angry too. "Did she break your ribs farther?"

I managed a smile, "Once something's broken, its broken." But Ian wasn't finding this funny.

"Noel..." It was a warning tone.

I sighed, "I don't want to start trouble when I first get here." I whispered to him.

"I hope it hurts!" Lacey's shrill voice sounded.

"Lacey!" Jeb yelled and pulled out one of my guns. "Why the hell did you attack Noel?"

Before Lacey could answer a woman with old red hair ran into the room. "Jeb put that away." She said like she was telling him to wash his hands before a meal. "Nate's tribe is here as planned."


	6. Chapter 6

**2012.01.17 Grammar Correction!**

**Eyes**

The room changed in seconds. Sharron jumped out of their seats along with almost everyone else. Jared and Aaron kept holding Lacey. Doc and Ian stayed with at my side and Wanda, Mel, Kyle and Jamie were in a half stand from when Lacey attacked me. Jeb just watched everyone filter out.

The lady that had walked in before was just about to leave when she saw Lacey being held. "What's going on Jeb?" She asked looking at the man.

"Lacey attacked Noel, there, Maggie." He said gesturing over to me with the hand that held the gun. I winced away.

Maggie's eyes were on my in less than a second. Her eyes were the same as Sharron's. "Did you remove a soul from her?" She said. More liked spat.

Ian stood from his crotch beside me and stood protectively above me. "Maggie, I would like you to meet my sister, Noel." Although I couldn't see his face, I knew Ian's face was probably twisted with rage. You could hear it in his voice. "No, we didn't remove a soul from her."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "I see." She said then clapped her hands in front of her like she had just made a decision. "Well, we had better get going. Jeb, if you don't go and greet you guest, it will be rude." She said, with one more look at me, and then she was gone.

Jeb huffed then walked around Lacey to me. "Here kid." He said and handed me my gun back. "You might need it." Then he leaned in so that he was whispering just to me. "Lacey is a pain, but she's never attacked anyone before. Spoiled kid she is. You should have seen her when I told her she had to share her room with you." He chuckled lightly then pulled away. "Okay everyone. We better go and greet our guest like Magnolia said." Jeb said after raising his voice.

"What do we do with her?" Jared asked still holding Lacey in what looked like a rather uncomfortable way. Aaron was doing the same.

"Maybe a few weeks with Nate's group with make her cool her head." Jeb said. He walked up to the short black head and lifted her chin so they were looking eye to eye. "But if you do that again, I will make sure that you don't see the light of day again. Got it?"

Lacey snorted then nodded slowly.

"Good." Jeb said, then clapped his hands the same way Maggie did. "Let her go and let's go."

Everyone stayed put, no one moving. Jeb sighed and grabbed hold of Jamie's collar and started dragging the boy with him, the boy yelling the whole way. When he passed Aaron he grabbed the man too in the same way. We all started moving towered the cave opening. Lacey going next with a none to gentle push from Jared who followed after with Mel. Kyle went next with Doc and Wanda, Ian and I came last.

"Are you okay?" Wanda's voice asked.

I smiled, though I doubted she could see it in the dark tunnel. "Yeah, it's just pain."*

"I wonder what made Lacey do that." Ian thought out loud.

I cleared my throat, "Jeb did say something about me sharing a room with her." I said.

"No." said Ian.

I sighed in relief, "Good, I thought I'd actually have to use this thing." I said as I waved my gun around, knowing that they couldn't see it. I put in the back of my cut offs once more when we came into a lighter cave and I had a side thought of wondering if I was still covered in blood and grime.

"Ian," I asked, "Am I clean?"

"Clean enough." Ian let go of Wanda and hurried to help wherever he was needed. Wanda grabbed hold of my hand and started leading me to a group of young ladies that.

"You're fine." Wanda said. "You just look like you didn't have a bath today and Mel gave you a sponge bath while you were unconscious, and she took out your contacts."

"Wanda!" One of them yelled. She was small maybe the same size as Wanda herself, with long brown hair that reached her mid back. Her eyes were blue that matched the ocean.

"Kim!" Wanda called back and waved at her. When we made it her side the two hugged and then Wanda turned to me. "This is Ian's sister, Noel. Noel this is Nate's sister, Kim."

"Pleased to meet you." I said and held out my hand. Kim took it and shook it with a strong hand. She then introduced me to the people in the group with her. I only really remember a girl named Emily, maybe about 15, who had brown hair that was just below her shoulders and these amazing grey/blue eyes. She was a little short about two or three inches taller than Wanda. Her older sister Monica was about 5"6' feet tall. She had blond almost brown hair that was about to her mid back and her eyes were a blue colour that reminded me of the sky on a winter day. She looked to be about 17. Emily and Monica had another sister named Judith. She looked somewhat like me. She had waist length brown hair and hazel/green eyes. She was shorter than me by about 3 inches and stood at about 5"4'. She looked to be about 19 or 20.

Jamie came up and smiled at us and I saw that Monica had a blush on her face. I smiled at her and she blushed harder.

"Hey guys!" said Jamie smiling brightly, "How's it going?"

They all answered, and Jamie smiled at all of them with genuine happiness.

As I stood there listening to all those people talk about seeing each other for the first time on almost six months, I noticed this one man that stood back behind all the rest of the group. He was tall, maybe 6'4", and had this red hair that reminded me of fire. I wasn't able to see his face, for it was turned from me.

While I was studying him, Judith's voice broke through my thoughts. "His name is Burns." She said, with a smile. "He's been living with us from before I was in Nate's Clan. I love that man like he was my brother."

The words she spoke were meant to be soft but it came out more like a threat than anything else. I didn't understand it that much so I just smiled and nodded. "Can I meet him, Judith?" I asked innocently.

Judith smiled again. "Sure can." She then held up her hand, stopping me from moving when I tried. "You have to promise me something first." When I nodded she continued. "You have to call me Judy."

I smiled and nodded at her again. "Alright, Judy."

As we made our way over the Burns, I noticed that Judy had a gun strapped to her upper leg. She looked bad ass.

In fact, almost all of Nate's tribe had guns strapped somewhere. Kim had it strapped to her hit. Emily had it strapped to her left lower leg. Monica had hers strapped behind her back almost tucked into her pants, like my gun was now. Arms, legs, hips, pockets. Everywhere, someone would have a gun. It made me feel uncomfortable, but I ignored it and kept on walking.

"Burns," Judy said and the man looked at us with a smile on his face. His face was beautiful. It was so heavily freckled that it looked like his skin was a brown colour. His smile was soft and kind. And his eyes were soul eyes.

As I realised this, I couldn't make myself reach for my gun, or freeze in shook, or scream in fright, or hurt this man in anyway, I couldn't even talk. I didn't know why either.

"Burns, this is Noel." Judy said gesturing to me. "Noel, this is Burns Living Fire."

I finally found my voice again. "You were from the Fire World?" I asked with wonder.

"Yes," Burns said, his voice calming and caring. "Have you...?" His question trailed off but I knew what he meant.

"Uh, no," I said. "No I haven't had a soul in me. I've just heard of the Fire World while I was living among the souls."

Burns face sported a confused look, "I'm confused."

I smiled, and giggled lightly. "It's a long story." Well, actually it wasn't but I didn't want to talk about it at the moment.

"Hey Burns!" said Kyle, as he came and put his hand on my shoulder. "I see you've met my sister."

Burns looked surprised, "I did not know you had a sister, Kyle." He said with his eyes on me. "But know what you mention it, I do see a resemblance." He smiled again, a teasing smile. "Though, Noel is _a lot _prettier then you."

Kyle laughed as I blushed. "That she is." He said and I blushed all the harder.

"Oh stop it." I said, trying to get away from my older brother, but he just grabbed my around the waist and started tickling me. "Kyle! Kyle, stop!" I said laughing.

"Kyle, Sunny is looking for you." Someone behind me said, and Kyle let go of me, and left me a little unstable and I fell on my butt, rather ungracefully.

"Kyle!" I yelled after him, but he didn't turn.

"Here, let me help." Burns said and held out his hand.

As I grabbed his hand, I couldn't help but notice that his he had the perfect smile.

You know when you watch those movies and Tom Cruise comes out and smiles and all the girls freak out or melt? Well, that was happening right now.

I smiled back the man and when I was standing at my full height, I let go of his hand, though I didn't want to.

_'That the hell is wrong with me?'_

"Burns!" yelled a rough voice.

He smiled at me once more then turned and left me with myself...where had Judith gone off to?

Looking for her, I spotted Ian standing by a group of people I didn't recognise. But I was new here, so probably wouldn't know Nate's tribe from this Jeb's.

When Ian felt my eyes on him, he turned, smiled at me and waved me over to him. I got to his side and he through his arm around my shoulder.

"...just need some help with breaking in." One of the men in the group was saying. He was _huge_. I mean, huge huge. Like almost 7" tall and he was built. I wouldn't be surprised if he was 200 lbs. He had brown eyes and brown hair that was almost reached his shoulders. His skin was dark, like he had spent most of his time in the sun.

As I stared in wonder, someone else decided it was time to talk. "I don't know when we will do it. We still need to get everything ready and also need to locate one too."

Ian spoke up, "It would be a problem stealing the thing in the first place." he started, and my eyes pulled away from the giant of a man and looked up at my brother. "But, we have plenty of time to think this through and make the best plan. I think that the earliest that we can start this raid is in 3 months at _least_."

There was a mummer of agreement. "But she might be dead by then." A voice came from the corner of the group. Monica stood with her arms crossed over her chest and had a very stubborn look on her face. Emily was on her standing left with Judy on Emily's left. "I don't think we _can _wait that long."

Emily reached up and put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Dianne is very sick, Ian." She said with a small sad, smile.

Ian sighed, "Let's bring this up on Friday when we are all together. The other tribes should be getting here within the next few days. We'll see what they think."

"So Ian," The man from before said as everyone else walked away. "I didn't know you had a new girl." He winked at me and I blushed.

Ian chuckled, "Well, that's because I don't." Ian said, moving his hand so that he was ruffling my hair. "This squirt right here is my little sister, Noel."

I pushed his hand away and sent a glare at him before looking back at the man. "Nice to meet you." I said and held out my hand.

He shook it, his hand squeezing mine gently. "Names Roldán."*

"You're Spanish?"

"Yup, you're the first to get that, other than my wife."

"Oh, you're married?" I asked.

He smiled and pointed into a group of girls that were talking. As I followed his finger it landed on Judy's back.

"Her name is Judy." He said not looking at me, but at his wife.

"I've met her." He looked back at me. "She threatened me."

Roldán's laugh boomed out and some people turned to look at him. "That sounds like her."

I made a small giggle and the turned to Ian, "What were you talking about earlier?"

Ian sighed, "One on Judy, Monica, and Emily's cousins is very sick with cancer they believe. We don't know how to get her back to health again."

I thought about it for only have a second. "Ian, I have an idea, but you're not going to like it." Ian turned to me and so did Roldán, but before I could go on there was a booming sound that came from the back of the room.

Everyone turned to the noise to see that Jared had come in with a box that had a picture of what looked like a BBQ on it. Then Kyle came in behind him with a huge cooler/freezer looking thing. A man I did recognize then came in with something on a huge plate and the man behind him came in carrying a plate just as big as the first. Burns came in after that, he was carrying a white middle sized bottle. Propane?

The man that had drought in the first plate, smiled up at everyone, "Well, we were going to wait until everyone else got here, but the meat may be bad by then." He chuckled, "How does a BBQ sound to everyone?"

A cheer went up and people rushed forward to help. I was about to but Ian's hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"You'll be more in the way then a help." He said and we just stood there with Roldán and Judy that was now at his side.

It was peaceful and it felt like I was at home. As I looked over at the group my eyes landed on Burns. He was helping wherever he could and smiled at everyone that passed by him. He must have sensed my eyes on him because he looked up and stared into my eyes.

I blushed, but couldn't bring myself to look away. It wasn't until someone tapped him shoulder that he turned his head and his eyes slowly left mine.

I knew it then, I was falling in love with the enemy.


	7. Chapter 7

**2012.01.17 Grammar Correction**

**Eyes**

I was avoiding him.

For three days, I've been avoiding him.

Could you blame me? I mean, every time I looked into his amazingly soul eyes, it was like he was seeing everything about me; every secret that was left untold. Everything.

I guess I couldn't blame him. It was like he was just to kind and loving to be blamed for anything.

The rest of the tribes had arrived about six hours after we had eaten all that meat. Gail's tribe first, Russell next then Max. While people filed into the caves, I noticed that lots of the younger girls that had come like to hang around where they could see the men work. The men would take off their shirts when it got to hot, and with the extra bodies around, it got hot faster than normal. If I had had some spare time, I would have sat down and enjoyed the show too.

But one of those bodies that was shining with sweat was none other than the man I was avoiding. I mean, Burns was a sexy man, and anyone who was foolish enough not to look at him was nothing but that...foolish.

From afar, I could see the girls swooning over the men, particularly Jamie, as I helped Wanda hang some laundry to dry. It was kind of funny and all the older girls would share a laugh when some girl would faint, blaming it on the heat. But really you could see it wasn't the heat of the desert, it was all the blood rushing to their heads when one of the men winked at them. I think the men enjoyed the attention.

I hate to say it, but you can only avoid someone for so long.

As we were handing out food to all the men when lunch came around, Ian had asked me if I could run to the kitchen and grab a few extra of everything.

"I'll go with her." Said the voice I wish would just disappear.

"Thanks Burns!" Ian said and smiled at me...like he had arranged the whole thing...

I huffed out a breath in anger and turned without even looking at Burns and stalked off to the kitchen without even saying anything. When we finally got there, the room was empty.

"I guess everyone is eating in with the workers." I said more to myself than anyone else.

"I think you would be correct."

If I was being truthful with myself, I think I would have jumped because in all honest I had forgotten that sexy soul and his shirtless body that was in the same room as me. I was saved from having to look and face him and tell him were everything was when all the sudden Jamie ran into the room with a terrified look on his face. I instantly jumped to the worst conclusions.

"Jamie! Is everything all right? Is anyone hurt? Are the souls coming?" I rambled off before I could think.

Jamie's breaths came out in gasps, and he shook his head, "No." He said and it sounded like he had been running a marathon. "It's way worse, it's the girls."

For half a second I had absolutely no clue what he was talking about, and then it clicked. Of course! Ever since all the girls 10 through 18 had arrived at the caves, Jamie had been on the run...running from them. I turned my head to the side and studied the heavy breathing boy in front of me who was now sitting on one of the tables. I guess he wasn't that bad looking for someone his age. He had nice eyes. His hair, though in need of a haircut, was a nice shinny colour.

"Noel," Jamie said as he looked into my eyes with so much seriousness it was almost funny. "I need you to help me shake the girls."

Shocked, all I could do was stare at him for a moment before I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it at all. It was just too funny a statement to be taken seriously. When I finally had calmed down enough to look up at Jamie's face, it took all my will power not to continue laughing and talk to him like he wanted me to talk to him like...seriously.

"I'm sorry Jamie." I said as honestly as I could. "Why do you need my help?"

Jamie sighed and lay down on the table, "You see, I have it all planned out. All you need to do is kiss me." He said looking at me with a smile.

Once again I found myself in shell shocked. "Hm...What?"

Quickly, Jamie explained, "You see, if you kiss my in front of all those girls then they won't be able to try and kidnap me in my sleep or have me take them to the bathroom every five minutes because their scared and need a hand to hold." He said and took a deep breath before continuing. "It would only be a short, small, itty bitty, kiss that's all." said Jamie as he pinched his thumb and index finger to show how small the kiss would be.

And as much as I hate to admit it, the plan did sounds pretty good.

"I have a better idea." Burns voice said from behind me and this time I did jump. I had to stop forgetting he was in the room. "I'll be right back, I need to find Monica." and with that he was running out the door to wherever he was going, taking with him a basket of stuff Ian had asked for. I guess he had found the food and things Ian has asked for.

It was kind of awkward after that with just me and Jamie there, so I asked if he had eaten anything for lunch and if he wanted something when he answered no.

As I as making some salad before the lettuce could go bad, I listened for the foot falls that would echo through the tunnel, signalling someone's approach. Finally after about 15 minutes, four maybe even five people were walking toward the kitchen.

I watched as Burns came into the dim light of the kitchen followed by Monica, Judy, Roldán, and Emily all walked into the room. "Hi guys." I said to all of them and handed Jamie his salad, and rice that I had found.

"Hey there, Noel!" Roldán said as he wrapped me in a hug. "I haven't seen you around lately."

"I..hm..I was, huh." I stuttered, trying not to let my eyes dart to the soul in the room.

"She...She's been helping with...the kids!" Judy said, blushing and looking around trying to come up with an obvious excuse that everyone could plainly see.

Roldán raised an eyebrow and turned his attention to me with questioning eyes. "Really?"

Before I could answer and make myself sound like a fool, Emily came to my rescue. "Burns, why are we here anyway?"

"It seems like Jamie is having some sort of problem with the girls in the cave." Burns said with a light chuckle and almost made me melt on the spot. "And his idea of 'solving' it," he said with air quotations, "Is that Noel kisses him." The room stayed silent and the Jamie's cheeks were a bright red colour. "I'm pretty sure that not only will that get Jamie in some trouble, but the younger female population will probably try and kill her. So this is what I was thinking. Monica," The blond looked up at him with questionable eyes, "You are going to be kissing Jamie."

Slowly Monica's face turned from pale to a really unhealthy purple colour and Judy had to pat her back to get her to start breathing again, though it did almost nothing to help. All at once everyone started talking but Monica.

"Why would that make a difference?" Emily was asking.

"I wish I had a camera to take a picture of your face, Monica!" Roldán laughed.

"Are you serious? Not that I mind or anything. I mean...huh..." Jamie was trying to say.

"Would you just take a breath already?" Judy was yelling at Monica.

"Burns, I think you killed the poor girl." I said with a small smile of amusement.

"It's the only way to do it." Burns was saying.

After all that was said in a matter of 4 seconds the room fell into a silence, before Roldán started to laugh. I guess it was pretty funny. I joined in. And soon everyone was laughing at the silliness of the whole thing. I think I must have laughed for 4 minutes straight, and I must have been pretty out of it, because when I came around I was leaning against a very shirtless Burns.

You know when you watch those cartoons and that character can wind them up and shoot about five hundred feet in the air? Or when, you're on a trampoline and you have someone double bounce and it makes you go really high? Well, then you know how I reacted. I jumped so far away from him so fast I thought I was a cartoon wound up and being double bounce all at once. I was lucky that no one noticed though because they were all just coming out of there little laughing spurt.

"Okay." Judy said, wiping a tear that had fallen from her eye from laughing so hard. "Burns what's going on here?"

Burned chucked again, "Okay, the reason Monica has to do it is because she doesn't live in the same tribe as you do, and this can just blow over after this gathering is over." He said and folded his hands together as he sat down at the table Jamie was still sitting on. "The story will go like this." He continued as everyone else sat down. Monica as far from Jamie as she could, which was beside me, since I was trying to stay away from Burns, Roldán and Judy were waiting for the red head to explain himself and Emily just had an amused look on her face. "Monica will get into a fight with Jamie over him trying to get attention from the girls. Jamie will say that he was just doing what he was told and got to hot and took off his shirt, but Monica doesn't buy it and lets it slip something about them being boyfriend and girlfriend and something about ending it. Then Jamie will try and stop her by grabbing her hand when she turns to leave and then when she turns, he'll kiss her." Burns smiled, "Sound good?"

"I'm going to need a bullet proof vest to survive this." Monica said to no one but all heard it.

"Maybe even a Puffer." I said with a nudge.

Roldán chuckled darkly, "It's too bad that we don't have a video camera."

I was having the hardest time not laughing right now!

I mean seriously, I don't know how Burns and Judy were keeping that shocked face on.

"I can't believe you, James!" Monica cried out. "I can't believe that you would do this to me...To us!" If that didn't get the younger female population's attention, only one other thing would.

"Monica, it was getting too hot for me to work with a shirt on." Jamie was trying to defend himself, actually doing a good job on his acting. "I don't see what's wrong, baby."

Monica stopped for a moment. "How can I let you call me that after you were trying to get the attention of every other girl in this whole cave? Jamie, you are my boyfriend!" She said it loud enough for all to hear and I couldn't believe that I could actually keep the laugh inside. Mel, Jared, Ian and Wanda's faces were more than just a little funny. "Were my boyfriend."

It was almost a whisper but it carried over the overly silent hall. And as Monica turned and started to walk away, Jamie reached out and grabbed her hand. "Monica, please."

As Monica slowly turned around with tears in her eyes, Jamie took a step toward her and dipped his head down and brushed his lips over hers, and I had to remind myself that crying here would probably make people think I was crying over Jamie. So I just watched in amazement as the kiss continued...and continued. Until the two slowly broke apart and stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Roldán came up and maneuvered the "couple" out of the cave, just as the "Jamie Fan Club" woke up from there shock.

"I can't believe that you guys could pull something like that off." Emily said as she laughed on the floor, holding her stomach. "'I can't believe that you would do this to me...To us!' It was just too good!"

I laughed with her, "I know what you mean by that. I was having the hardest time not laughing. I thought I was going to blow the whole operation."

Judy smiled, "We should do that more often. I love messing with people's minds."

"We know!" Roldán, Emily and Monica all said and then laughed.

"Well, I don't think it was that funny at all." Mel said as she watched Monica and Jamie blush. "But it sure made those girls scream like that one time I went as saw The Jonas Brother's live."

Everyone went silent.

"Don't ask." Mel said and we all started laughing again.

I made me way to the "bath house"(or so I called it), Burns, Judy and Wanda by my side, all of us carrying a load of dishes that needed to be washed. It was nice. We didn't really talking about anything for a while. When we finally got to where we were going, Lacey was there with wet hair and a bar of soup in her hand.

"Hm, Noel?" She asked as she came and stood beside me.

"...Yes?" I said, my hand slowly going behind my back to rest on the handle of my gun.

Lacey sighed, "I wanted to apologize for just attacking you like that." She said and started looking away from me, like the rock wall behind me was the most interesting thing in the whole world. "Sometimes when I see some human I remember what it was like to be a Seeker and I just kind of go...crazy for a while."

I stared in confusion, but before I could ask her what the hell was she talking about, she had grabbed up her stuff and was walking toward the exit. So I turned to Wanda, "Huh?"

Wanda smiled, and brushed her golden hair out of her eyes, "I'll tell you about it some other time." Then to change the subject, "Could you believe what happened with Monica and Jamie today?"

Night in the cave was peaceful. And if you were in the right room, you could see through the cracks right into the night sky. The best place to do that was in the Hospital Wing. It was nice in there. Tonight Doc wasn't there, and I didn't have a place to stay because all the rooms were over flowing.

Laying there gave me time to think about what I had planned to do with Monica/Judy/Emily/Cousin problem. Their cousin was sick and I had a plan, one I knew that many people probably wouldn't like that much. But it was the only why I could think about it.

"Why are you in here?"

I screamed. Really loud.

"Shhh!" Someone said, "It's just me. Doc."

I placed a hand over my heart and a light was shinned at me. "Oh, Doc," I said, "You scared me."

The man chuckled and sat down beside me, "I could tell. I'm surprised my ear brumes aren't bleeding."

I giggled lightly and sat up. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I asked you the same thing when I came in." He said.

"Oh," I blushed. "Sorry about that." I laughed, "There really isn't any room for me to stay anywhere else, so I've been spending the nights here. Is that okay with you?"

Doc shrugged and turned the flashlight off, "Can't have light shining into the sky." He explained, "You can stay here. Actually, I was wondering why you weren't asleep yet." It was a silent question.

I sighed and rapped my arms around my legs as I pulled them from my chest and I put my head on my knees. "I was thinking of Dianne." I explained, "I have an idea of what we should do, but I don't think anyone will like it." I said and sighed again.

Doc nodded, "You and Wanda are a lot alike you know that?" I shook my head, not understanding. "I'm sure that she has told you her story. She came to me first about it. Guess she thought I had a lot of say in stuff that goes on here. Anyway, she made me agree to her little plan. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Promise to...kill a friend. I'll never do that again." He paused for a moment. "So, what's your plan?"

And just like that, I told him. I told him what I thought from beginning to end. My plan. My precautions. My reasons. Everything. And at the end of it all, I felt like a huge load had been taken of my shoulders and I could finally just be free. As the Doctor sat there, processing everything I said, I knew, for sure, that I had made the right choice in telling him. He just seemed level headed and would take everything and make the right decision.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? Mel would be a better choice, since she's been in that situation before?" Doc asked.

I paused, "I'll have to think about it." I lay back down and Doc lay down in the cot next to me. "I hope this works out."

"I hope so too, but you need to understand that people die, Noel. And most times, there's nothing we can do about it." Doc said and patted my hand before standing up and walking out of the cave.

I sat there for a long time just thinking, as I watched the stars.

"Most times." I repeated what the doctor had said. "Most."

"I need to talk to you all." I said to Kyle, Ian, Wanda, Jeb and Sunny the next morning. "Follow me."

As they all stood up and we made our way to the Hospital Wing, I had a dreading feeling come over me. When we finally made it to the end of the tunnel and entered the cave, Judy, Roldán, Monica, Emily, Jared and Mel were all there. Standing with them was Doc, Jamie, Nate and Burns.

"Okay, I'm glad you're all here." I said as everyone looked at me. I took a deep breath and continued. "As you are all aware of, Dianne, the O's cousin," I motioned toward Monica, Judy and Emily. "is dying. Well, I think I have a plan that just might save her and get us some crazy medical supplies." I looked over at Wanda, but before I could finish what I was saying, Ian stepped in front of the young blond with a look as hard as steel.

"No." Was all he said.

"Ian, let me finish." I said, but again he interrupted me.

"You are not going to use Wanda to get something like that!" he said with an angry look.

First I was shocked. How could he think that I would do something like that? Next I was angry. I was angry that he thought that I would _use_ one of my friends like that.

"How dare you!" I said and reached over and smacked him over then head. "You think I would put my friends in danger? Especially one that was so important to not only me, but to you?"

Everyone stared in shock. "I just thought-" Ian tried to say.

"Well you thought wrong, you asshole!" I yelled, then ran a hand threw my hair and began to calm down. "What I was going to say, Ian, was that I needed Wanda and Mel's help with how they were able to stay in the same head with each other." I finished.

Silence. Yup, that's what I was expecting.

"What?" Kyle said a confused look on his face.

I sighed, knowing what was about to come. "I need Doc to put a soul in me."


	8. Chapter 8

**2012.01.17 Grammar Correction**

**Eyes**

It hurt, to see the look on their faces. Betrayal. Fear. Anger. Shock. Hate...Love.

Jamie was the first one to speak. "I don't get it." He said shaking his head. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "You want someone that can get in there and get out with plenty of supplies right?" I asked, "I can do that. I was thinking of having Burns or Wanda or even Sunny do it, but Sunny and Wanda are to small and Burns isn't really trained in the Medical Field like I am. I was thinking of maybe having a soul put into Mel," As I said this, Jared wrapped him arm around her waist and glared at me, "but," I continued, "She isn't really trained in the field also. It wouldn't be for that long, maybe two months." I paused, "Look, I don't know how this works, but I need your help with this. If we can get enough medical supplies and battery power up here then that would be great. It could save a lot of people and we can't live off of Heal for the rest of our lives. We need to do this. It's as simple as that." I guess that was the wrong choice of words.

"Only," Mel said, "It's not as simple as that. When Wanda was in my body, she had control over everything. I couldn't do anything unless our emotions were on high." At that Wanda blushed and grabbed hold of Ian's hand. "And even then, I couldn't take control for that long. And the trust we had for one another, didn't just come like that. It took me almost nine months to fully and completely trust Wanda."

Wanda nodded, "Where are you planning on getting the soul from?"

"I was thinking that maybe we could go to a shuttle and get a soul that is just coming to Earth." I said, "Are you okay with that?" I asked the three souls in the room.

"What are you planning on doing with the soul after your done this mission?" Sunny asked, Kyle's arm around her waist.

"Probably sending it to the farthest planet there is out there. I mean, I don't want to set it lose on earth, it might tell someone were me are. I will not take that chance." I said hoping to win over someone.

Sunny smiled, "That's all I'm worried about, other than your safety."

I smiled back at her and looked at Wanda who had a puzzled look on her face. "Wanda?" I asked, wondering what she was thinking about.

She jumped, and without smiling she looked at me. "I just remembered something about being put into Mel when I was just coming to this planet. I mean, I was here as a spider, but I'm sure that other soul's weren't spiders. Anyway, when I came here, I was taught that a soul was to be afraid of humans. Humans were evil things that couldn't control themselves, or that was what I was taught by my Comforter. If you get a soul that is just coming here, then you won't have to worry as much about that. I mean, the first few days, Sunny, Burns, and I can help you and the soul with getting use to each other. We will be there to couch the soul. It will be hard the first few days, but I'm guessing it will be easier than what Mel and I went through." Wanda finished and people were starting to nod their heads with the look of at least thinking about maybe, possibly, thinking about the idea.

"I don't think that this is a good idea." Sharron said, a look of pure hate in her eyes, and it was directed at me. "I've gone through this three times already. I've only just begun to trust Wanda and Mel again. I still don't want Sunny here and I don't even know Burns, so why the hell would I trust him?" The anger in her eyes was growing. "You just got here, why do you think that I would trust you with this? Why would any of us trust you with this?"

Well, that pissed me off. I glared at her and if I had been any angrier I would have punched the bitch in the face. "Well, we all know what you think now. So thanks for sharing." My glare hardened, "Do you honestly think I would betray my family and friends here by telling anyone that you guys exist? You think I would tell them about Ian or Kyle? Jaime, Jared or even you? If you think that you'd be a better choice, by all means, please take my place. Do you know what I'm giving up to do this?" I scoffed at her then before I let my anger get the better of me, I said. "You can let the other tribes know about this and tell them my plan." Then I walk out of the tunnel, ignoring the calls of my name from my brothers and others.

Did Sharon really think that I would willingly tell someone about my family here? I felt the tears prickle my eyes and started running. I tried to hide the tears when I ran through the garden cave, but people noticed. As I kept running, not really knowing where I was going, I thought about what would happen if I went through with this plan. I didn't want to lose the trust of these people. I wanted to help. That's all. I just wanted to help.

I found myself in a small hole of some kind and I sat down to bawl my eyes out. I hadn't had a good cry in almost two years.

I don't know how long I sat there, but I heard someone calling my name and I opened my eyes to see Burns there with a look of concern on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he helped me sit up from my lying position.

I looked around confused, "Was I sleeping?" I asked, ignoring his question.

He nodded and sat beside me on the floor. "Are you okay?" He asked again, looking at me.

I tried to smile, but failed. "No." I answered truthfully. "I've been living the last three years thinking I was the only human out here and once I finally find my family that...bitch thinks that I would just give them up?" My eyes started to water again, "I just want to help." And I started crying again.

Burns wrapped his arm around my shoulders and guided my head to his shoulder with his hand. We just sat there with the silence disturbed by the sound of my tears.

"You okay?" He asked, after my sobs had settled down into whimpers.

I let out a little laugh, nodded, and lifted my head from him shoulder. "Sorry." I said. "I guess I just needed a real good cry."

He didn't move his arm from around me and smiled. "Understandable." He chuckled, "Everyone needs to break down every once and awhile."

I nodded and gave him a watery smile. "What do you think of my plan?" I asked, hoping that he would be on my side.

"I think that it's dangerous." Burns said, "But I agree with you in some ways." He smiled, "You are kind of selfless aren't you?" He looked down at me.

I blushed, "I...guess. I've never really thought about it."

"You would have made a wonderful soul."

I was taken back at this and just stared at him.

"Oh, sorry," He said. "I have a tendency of doing that sometimes." I looked on in confusion. "For instance, Sharron, she would make a lovely Seeker." I rolled my eyes at that, but agreed. "And Doc, an amazing Healer." He went of naming a few others. "Judy would make a great soul and Roldan would've been a Comforter." He chuckled. "Can you imagine that?"

I giggled. "I don't know. He is huge!"

"You should have seen the first time we meant." Burns smiled at the memory. "The man almost threw me through a wall. Mind you, I did have Nate and Judy hostage."

For a second time was taken back, "You were a Seeker?" I asked, not seeing Burns chasing down humans.

He nodded, and moved his arm that was behind my head just slightly and I thought he wanted to move it, but he didn't. "Sorry, arms going numb." He finished fiddling and laid his arm back around my shoulder. "Yeah, I was a Seeker. That's how I meant Nate.

"I was on patrol one night, in the middle of nowhere. There was a little shack that was used to house the Seekers that were out there. It was kind of simple, one room with the kitchen, bed and sitting room.

"One night, I noticed some shadows, two of them, moving around." He started. "Soul's don't usually go out at night, especially then, because human's were still out there, and some souls have been killed. Anyway, I see these shadows and grab my gun and tell them to stop." He gave a humourless laugh, "They didn't of course. They turned and ran. I shot my gun and hit one of them. It went down and the other kept running for a little bit before it realized that the other one had fallen. By that time I was closer to the fallen one then the other shadow. I noticed that it was a girl that had fallen. I jumped on her, and held her down as I watched the other one stop and glare at me. It was a man, I could see that now. He looked at me and then said,

'Let the girl go, boy. You don't want to meet her boyfriend, trust me.'" Burns deepened his voice to sound like Nate.

"I laughed and held my gun at the man, 'You're going to have to come with me.' I said, and the man did. I was kind of shocked that he would give up so easily. But at the moment it didn't really matter, as long as I didn't have to hurt someone else.

"When all was said and done and had the two tied up, I was going to give the call to tell someone that I had more humans, but decided I would do it tomorrow. I was one of the best Seekers out there, I didn't have to call in and tell someone that I had them. I was tired and I could hold them for a night or two."

Burns stopped, and looked at me. "You have to understand that I was conceded and selfish when I was a Seeker. I had no problem with disobeying orders because I was the best, or so I thought.

"Anyway," Burns continued, "I tended to the girls wound, I had shot her in the leg, and afterward I went to bed. The man just kept on talking though. He was saying things like 'It's okay. Do you really think that Roldan will let these things take and put something in you?', 'I'll protect you, even if it kills me.' and 'I promised that boy, your sister, and your cousin that nothin' was going to happen to you without me going down first. I've already broken that promise, but I will fight him. I will fight them all.'

"It was something I had heard before. I mean, souls didn't talk like that, but other human's I had captured had said close to the same thing. But it was usually just one that I caught, so I wasn't use to a human defending another human.

"I told them to be quite a few times, but gave up when the man didn't listen. I spent the night just lying there listening to the man comfort the girl, whose name I found out was Judy.

"Right before morning came I drifted off into quiet slumber. It wasn't for that long, but I woke up to the sound of voices. Different voices then Nate and Judy's. I slowly grabbed my gun that was beside me and whipped off the bed and pointed my gun at the direction the voices where coming from.

"There were two another girl there, one was shorter, maybe 5'3", but she was young. I'd say maybe 13. It was Emily, but I didn't know that at the time. She had a gun pointed at me and had untied Nate who was untying Judy.

"The other girl was taller, who was Monica, 5'5" 5'6", she was about 15. She had her gun pointed at me but she was by the door. I was out numbered, and out gunned. Before I knew what was happening, I was picked up, and thrown across the room. I hit the wall behind me and heard the dry wall crack. It knocked me out pretty bad, and when I woke up tied up and gagged. Nate was there and so was this huge man. The girls were in the bed sleeping, Monica first, then Judy, and lastly Emily. I looked back at the big man and was kind of taken back."

Burns smiled again before continuing. "He was smiling at me. 'Sorry.'" Burns lowered his voice to try and match Roldans. "'I was just a little angry. You did take my girl and shoot her so wouldn't you do the same thing?'

"'You threw me against the wall?' I asked him and he let out this booming laugh. 'Sure did. I guess I don't know my own strength.'

"From behind him, Judy spoke to him in a different language; I was guessing it was Spanish. He turned and said something back. He then leaned over the sleeping Monica, and kissed Judy on the forehead. I could just barely see her, but she smiled and then closed her eyes and drifted off into a restful slumber with the two other girls on either side of her.

"The man turned back to me and smiled again, 'Well, aren't I the luckiest guy in the world or what? Not only is she beautiful but she speaks Spanish! My Ma would have been so proud of me.' His smile fell, like he was remembering something. 'Anyway, my name is Roldan, and you know that we can't really let you go right?' he asked me and I nodded. 'Good. Now Nate and I have been talking and we have something to propose to you.' Roldan said and then let Nate take over talking.

"'What's your name, boy?' He asked and I gave him my name. 'How about I just call you Burns?' I nodded that that was okay. 'Good. Now listen Burns, we don't really want the soul's to start fearin' us because one psycho went on a killin' spree. We want to be a free race, but we know we aren't gettin' that anytime soon.' He paused, 'I want to ask you somethin', and I don't know if you're going to like it that much.' Nate said, and looked at Roldan, who nodded as if to finalize something. 'We want you to come with us.'

Burns chuckled, "You should have seen my face, Noel. I was so shocked. I looked at them like they were crazy. 'What?' I said, laughing. 'You can't be serious.' Nate and Roldan looked at each other. 'If we have to kill you, Burns, if that's the only way, then that's what'll happen.' Roldan said, frowning. 'We're going to stay here the night, so you have until the morning to decide.'"

Burns smiled at the memory and looked down at me. "I didn't know what I to do. These people were offering me life or death. I knew that if I went with them I'd have to prove myself to them if I wanted them to trust me, and at that time, I didn't really care if they trusted me. I knew I didn't want to die, so I had made up my mind. I was going to go with them and gain their trust. Then, when they all trusted me, I'd betray them."

I gasped and Burns smiled at me. "I didn't know that I would end up loving them like a family. I saving their lives more than a few times and they returned the favour. It was a little hard to meet the other members of Nate's Tribe, but after a while, they all began to trust me."

Burns grinned, "And now, Roldan and I are great friends and I always tease him about how Nate warned me about him." The soul chuckled, "He gets all proud and then grabs his wife and kisses her. It's funny."

I was smiling with him. "Thanks." I said, "For sharing your past with me."

Burns leaned his head toward mine and kisses my forehead. "You're welcome." He said, "But we had better go. Everyone is looking for you. I should have told them I found you right away."

When we made it out of the cave and made our way back to the dining hall, Burns brushed his fingers against mine then took my hand in his. When I looked up at him, he was looking straight ahead be he has a smile on his face.

The first person we saw was Roldan. He was smiling at a crying, but laughing, Judy. He bent down and kissed her and she put her arms around his and kissed him back. They broke from their kiss when Burns cleared his throat.

Judy smiled at us then wiped her tear stained face with her hand. She then walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"Thank you." She said. She let go of me and then stood beside Roldan again.

"So," Roldan started. "Whacha two up to?" He made a point of looking at our interlocked fingers.

I blushed and Burns smiled. "Well you see." Burns started. "I just professed my undying love to this amazing woman and she did the same."

Roldan looked like he was about to believe the soul for about half a second before his face broke into a grin. "Pph, yeah right." He said. "Look at your face. With all those freckles, no one could ever love you."

Burns laughed, and let go of my hand. "You're just jealous of my amazing hair. Admit it."

I giggled as the boys had a bickering fight. It was nice to see them act like a family. I was happy so see Burns smiling and Roldon scowling.

Judy came up beside me and laughed at the boys with me. "I appreciate what you want to do, Noel." She said and I looked at her. "But I don't want you to be put in danger just for my cousin. She is like my sister, and I would do anything to keep her safe. But I won't risk your life or the happiness of your family. Or Burns' happiness."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, referring to what she had said about Burns.

"He is in love with you." The brunette said simply.

I laughed, "No, he was joking when he said that he 'professed his undying love for me'."

Judy smiled up at me and just shook her head.

As she walked away to stop Roldan from getting too riled up from Burns' insults, I heard her. I don't think I was supposed to, but I did.

Judy said, "No, I don't think he was."


	9. Chapter 9

**An update! :)**

Realm of Hope

Chapter 9: To Understand

"_Let go!_" I cried out as I watched Ian and Kyle were being dragged away from me by Seekers. "_No!"_

Jamie, Mel, Doc, Sharon, all of them was being dragged away by Seekers.

I was screaming in agony, yelling at the Seekers not to take them. I was bagging, threatening, but nothing was working. One by one my friends were being dragged away from me.

"_How could you!?"_ I screamed at Burns, as he smiled at the chaos around us.

"It was easy." He said, as he watched Nate and Judy become unconscious from the Asleep that was sprayed in their faces. "You humans trust to easily."

I stared at him in shock. "You used us?" I asked, "You just waited until we were all in the same place and you betrayed us?"

Burns nodded, "A perfect plan." He looked like he was enjoying the screams that were vibrating through the caves.

I hated him. I hated him so much. "Then why am I the only one here that isn't being taken away?" I asked after all the screams had died down.

He turned and smiled at me. Not a kind smile or a loving smile I was used to seeing. It was a sinister smile, one full of a promise of pain, rejection, loneliness.

"You will be kept for experimental use." Burns sinister smile grew. "And I will be the one doing the experimenting."

I stared in shock. "No. No, no, no, no, _no!_"

He was walking toward me, "Noel." He said.

"_No!"_

"Noel." He said, flipping out a knife.

"_No!_"

"Noel!"

I was trashing and screaming when I came to.

Ian was looking at me with concerned eyes. "Are you okay?" He was asking.

"Seekers!" I gasped. "They were taking you."

Ian hugged me to his body. "You were dreaming, Noel. You are okay."

I started shaking. "Burns," I said, my voice breaking. "He was…" I couldn't finish.

"Shhh, baby girl, you're okay." Ian said, soothing out my hair. "Burns would never do anything to hurt you or any of us."

"He was going to hurt me." I cried out. "He let them take Nate and Judy, and Monica, and Kim, and Aaron, and you." I sobbed into his chest. "He was going to use me for experiments."

Ian tensed, "I would never let that happen to you." He said pulling back to look me in the eyes. "Baby girl, I will never let that happen to you." He promised. Ian's blue eyes shinned in the pale-blue little that was coming from a crack in the cave ceiling.

I tried to smile, "Okay." I said and gave him a hug. "I love you, Ian."

Ian hugged me back, "I love you too." He pulled away again. "Wanda?"

Wanda's small body appeared from behind Ian. She knelt down next to me and gave me a small smile. "Are you okay?"

"I will be." I said. "I just need a few minutes to calm down."

The soul smiled. "Can I give you a hug?" She asked almost shyly.

I laughed, and opened my arms.

She leaned in and wrapped her arms around me. "You were screaming so we expected the worst." She pulled away, "I'm glad it was just a dream."

I shuddered, "I'm glad it wasn't real."

"Well," Ian said, standing up from his crouching position. "No point in going to bed. Let's get ready for the day."

I didn't feel like eating breakfast so I made my way down the garden cave. It was nice there, in the morning light that was shining down. It was quite with everyone at breakfast.

"You're here early." A voice startled me into jumping almost three feet in the air.

I turned to see the amused face of Emily.

"Don't do that!" I chastised her. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

She laughed, "Sorry."

"It's okay. What are you doing here?"

She sat down next to me, "I come here in the mornings to read." She said, holding up a thick book. "It's a medical book. I took it on one of the raids I was on right after my cousin started to get sick. This is how we found out that she had cancer." She sighed, "I think that what you are doing is very brave, Noel. I mean, what you are doing for my cousin, but I don't want you too. This isn't your responsibility."

I nodded, "I understand why you would think that. I just want to help."

Emily smiled, "You have. More than you know." She took a deep breath. "I know about medical equipment. I know what the names for everything we need, which is why I think I should go through with your plan."

"But-" I started to interrupt.

The teen held up her hand, "Let me continue, Jared told me about how you got around with your contacts right?" I nodded, "Well, I'm not going to be able to do this without some help. I know that people will let one soul being inserted into someone, but not two, so this is what I propose, you put your contacts in, I put a soul in and we do this."

I stared at the young lady in front of me, "Have you really thought about this?" I asked her with concern in my eyes. "I don't want you to do this without really thinking about it."

Emily gave a nervous smile, "I have. I've even talked to Monica, Judy, and Wanda about it. Both of them jumped in saying that they wanted to take my place. I just crossed my arms and said, 'What do you know about medical equipment?' You should have seen their faces. Monica said that she could learn but I told her to shut up because she has Jamie now and Judy has Roldan. They backed off and consented after that. And I just wanted Wanda there for support."

"She is good for that." I said.

"Yeah, she is."

"You are very brave."

"Thanks. I'm scared shitless, but thanks all the same."

We were quite for a few minutes just absorbing what had just transpired between us.

"So," Emily started, "You and Burns, eh?"

I felt heat rush to my face and I knew that I was a shade of deep red. "What?" I squawked.

Seriously, I squawked.

Emily started laughing, and ended up on the ground clenching her stomach. "Haha, oh my gosh," She kept laughing. "That was so funny!"

"Shut up." I said covering my face with embarrassment.

This only made Emily rebound with laughter again.

It was pointless to try and stop her laughter, so I just waited for her to stop.

"I'm sorry," She said, whipping a tear from her eye.

"It's fine." I said, "At least it was good for a laugh."

Emily chuckled, "I haven't laughed that hard in a long time." She paused, "But seriously, what's going on between you and Burns?"

I sighed, "I don't know. I mean, I like him and all, and Judy said that he is in love with me, but then I have this dream about him trying to kill me and betraying the clans, and I don't know what to make of it, and I feel like I need a few hours away from him to try and figure all this out because wherever I go, he seems to pop up and its really annoying."

"Wow, talk about a run-on sentence." Emily said with a pat on my back.

I scratched the back of my head, "Sorry, old habit."

"It's alright." The dark haired teen said, "Well, would you like my opinion?"

I shrugged, "Why not?"

"I think that you are over analyzing this. One, Burns would never betray us, no matter what. Trust me on that. Two, Judy is a hopeless romantic and said thing she probably shouldn't, even if they might be true. Three, you are one of the forty some odd people in the world that we know of and you are worrying about a little thing about conflict? Come on girl, get on with it. If you like him just lay one on him and see what happens." She smiled at me, "But make sure I'm there when you do it because I really want to see his face. Roldan will probably want to be there as well, so don't do it without us there. Promise?"

I stared at her, "I'm not going to promise you that." I said crossing my arms.

Emily deflated, "Ah, come on!" she folded her hands and gave me a puppy-eye look, "Pretty please?"

I could feel my will wavering, but luckily I was saved by Monica walking into the garden calling Emily to come help her with doing the dishes.

"Fine, fine," The younger sister said, "I'm coming." She rounded on me, "Don't think you have gotten away so easy, missy. I will be back to find you." Then she disappeared.

I exhaled a breath I had been holding in thanking my lucky stars for Monica and untimely arrival.

Knowing that the garden cave was soon to be filled with people to do their share of work, I made my way to the game cave. I needed time to understand what Emily wanted to do.

Once I got to the cave, I let out a puff of air, glad that the area was vacant.

It made a lot more sense for one of the three sisters to do it. Judy would have been my first choose to take my place, if I had to decide. She was strong and stubborn and no way would she be would be erased by a soul.

But she had Roldan and Emily said that Judy didn't know anything about medical equipment.

I sighed and lay down in the middle of the cave. I didn't feel bad about not working today. With the extra hands, some of us could actually take a day off from working. Today was my day off along with a few other people.

The other tribes had been here for a little over a week now. Gail's tribe was planning on heading out tomorrow, and Max's two days after.

Nate's tribe still hadn't announced their departure date.

This meant that Burns was still in the caves somewhere…maybe in the garden cave without a shirt on.

I stopped that thought before it could go any farther. I needed to focus on Denise right now.

Emily said that Monica had also said that she would take the plunge to have a soul inserted into her, and although I'm sure Monica is just as stubborn as her sisters, I just couldn't see her surviving this without being erased. I didn't know Monica all that well, but she was so soft spoken and already so soul-like that it was hard to imagine how she could be any gentler.

Emily had seemed that Monica would have been a preferred candidate to Judy, so maybe I was wrong about her being erased.

I sighed in frustration and put my hands over my eyes. This was so annoying. I know that I wouldn't be erased if a soul was inserted into me. I'd have Wanda, Sunny, and Mel to help me _and_ the soul that they would put into me.

Yet, Emily could stay here and have the same help.

I wasn't getting anywhere with this.

_Of course_ Emily should do this. She was strong, stubborn, willing, and she knew what she needed to heal her cousin. And what she didn't know about medicine, I could help her with. She was a perfect candidate.

Then why didn't I feel like this was my task?

I shook my head and stood up. I didn't want to think about this anymore.

What I needed was a bath and a glass of wine. Of course wine wasn't an option though.

I decided to head off to find Wanda and see if she needed help with anything, and maybe talk to her about the new turn of events.

The tunnels were dark so I didn't see the anything until it was too late.

I was picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder.

My first reaction was to scream. And I did, loud.

"Would you shut up?!" Ian's voice said. "Gosh, no need to make everyone think that Seekers are coming. It's all good!" He bellowed the last bit, his voice bouncing off the tunnel walls. "Just scared Noel, that's all."

I glared, but he couldn't see me because of the dark. "What are you doing, Ian?" I asked, "Where are you taking me? And why are you carrying me?"

We emerged back into the game cave and Ian put me down smiling at me, "Calm down squirt," He said, and then his smile disappeared. "It's time for you and me to have a little chat about making crazy plans without talking to someone first."

I crossed my arms, "And what makes you think I haven't talked to anything about this?" I questioned him.

"Doc doesn't count, Noel."

I blinked, "Why do you think I talked to Doc about this?"

Ian smiled, and his hard eyes turned soft. "Because you are so much like Wanda."

"Yeah, Doc told me about that." I said as I sat down on the ground.

Ian sat beside me, "She is an amazing being, isn't she?"

"That she is."

Ian tensed, "Stop changing the subject." He accused.

I sputtered, "What? Me!? You were the one that started talking about her."

Ian laughed, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Besides," I said, "Emily talked to me this morning about-"

"I know." Ian interrupted. "Emily talked to Wanda about it and she talked to me."

Before I could speak again, Kyle's voice was booming from the cave entrance.

"Hey, you lazy people, what are you doing in here? Having a family reunion without your oldest brother?"

I rolled my eyes, "And there goes the peace and quiet." I teased.

Kyle glared at me before turning to Ian. "Did you tell her yet?"

Ian shook his head, "No, not yet." He said. "She was telling me about how Emily wanted to take her place with the whole soul operation thing."

Kyle stared. "Interesting." He said, "Well, I get to tell her anyways." My oldest brother said.

"But that isn't fair," Ian protested, standing up. "I was here first so I should get to tell her."

"Would both of you just shut up and tell me what the hell is going on?" I yelled above their little bickering, standing up.

Kyle grinned, "So you know that Burn dude?"

"Of course she knows 'that Burns dude'." Ian interrupted.

"Right, she is in love with him." Kyle said, talking like I wasn't even there.

My face was red, whether from rage or embarrassment, I wasn't sure.

Suddenly Ian's face broke out into an evil grinned, "Let's not tell her and see what she does."

Kyle's grin widened, and my rage grew.

"What about this 'Burns dude'?" I said, my voice threatening. "And I am not in love with him." I denied.

But the boys didn't seem to hear me as they continued bantering.

"We can make her suffer." Ian's grin was wicked now.

Kyle's grin was matching his brother's, "I agree." He clapped his hands together. "Alright, I vote not to tell Noel about the Burns dude." He held up his right hand like he was making an oath. "All In favour?"

Ian raised his hand.

Kyle smiled, "Majority wins."

They both looked at me and their grins vanished.

I was seething mad. "I will give you three seconds to tell me what is happening. You do not want to find out what will happen if you don't." I said with a sweet smile, placing myself between the door and the boys.

They both swallowed hard. Good.

Ian held up his hands in surrender, "No need to get angry, Noel."

"Yeah," Kyle said following Ian's motions, "We were just teasing."

I glared. "One."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh." They both said.

"Two."

Ian turned to Kyle, "We can take her."

Kyle grinned again. That was never a good sign. "Get her!"

I tried to turn and run but Kyle was faster than me and had me pinned down in a few seconds. "Tickle her, Ian!"

"No!" I screamed, but it was too late. Ian was tickling my sides and moving down to my feet. "Ian, please not the feet. I am bagging you." I cried through my laughter.

Ian was feeling merciful today I guess because he stopped and let out a laugh. "We were just joking about not tell you." He shoved Kyle's shoulder, "You can get off her."

Kyle smiled. "Next time, don't expect us to be so lenient." He stood up and held out his hand to help me up.

I rolled my eyes and accepted his hand.

"So what _is_ going on?" I inquired.

Ian and Kyle looked like twin with the grins plastered on their faces. "We figure you could use all the help you can get when you go through with your plans; whether it's you or Emily or whoever." Kyle said.

"So," Ian interrupted, "Burns agreed to stay in with us to help."

**And there you go!**


End file.
